Card selecting and raising device



July 30, 1929. v F. J. TILLMAN ,601

' CARD SELECTING AND RA ISING DEVICE Q Filed Aug. 25, 1919 5Sheets-Sheet 1 July 30, 1929.

' F. J. TILLMAN 1,722,601

CARD SELECTING AND RAISING DEVICE Filed Aug. 25, 1919' 5 Sheets-Sheet aJuiy 3O, 1929. F. J. TILLMAN 1,722,601

CARD SELECTING AND RAISING DEVICE Filed u 25, 1919 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I fMs; E E @B E-\ SK @K' r M Q M M m M [5] E L m I 1 81 sjm I A e 1 Q 5% UKM? E J 0 0 J :6 F K? 7 igfifl M HE @3 rs;

5 Q Q Q o I w r w v ,flfi'esi' Ian 622201 Patented July 30, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FERDINAND J. TILLMAN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSTGNOR TO REMINGTON RANDINC., 013 NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

cam) SELECTING AND RAISING 'nnvron.

Application filed August 25, 1919. Serial No. 319,699.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a simple. means ofselecting and raising one or more cards from a receptacle containingcards.

Another object of this invention is to provide a simple means oflocating a card that has been misfiled.

Other and further objeotswill appear in this specification and bespecifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings exemplifying this invention, and in which;

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the card solecting and raising devicebroken away, and shows the rods upon which the card selecting andraising carriage is adapted to travel, and partly broken away on eachend to show the receptacle containing the cards.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on line IIII of Fig. 1 showing the cardselecting and raising mechanism and also showing in dotted lines thenumeral key 0 depressed and a card raised.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top View of Fig. 2 enlarged with ten cardsremoved to show the card selecting and raising mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of a card partly torn apart, exposing ametal extension which is inserted in said card and through which thecard is selected and raised.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side View of Fig. 4 showing a metal extensioninserted in the card.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary top plan View of one of the card files used inconnection with the card selecting and raising device showing thepartition walls spaced. apart and forming separate compartments forseparating each ten cards and also showing U and V shaped slots cut inthe tops of the cards for the purpose of locating any card that has beenmisfiled.

Fig. 7 is a view of two cards with their lower portions broken away andwith the U-shaped slots out of alinement, indicating that the cardsbelong in differene compartments, and the V-shaped slots out ofalinement indicating that the cards belong in different files.

Fig. 8 is a view of'two cards with their lower portions broken away, andthe U- shaped slots in alinement indicating that the cards belong in thesame compartment, but P the V-shaped slots out of alinement indicatgigthat the cards belong in different card Fig. 9 is a view of two cardswith their lower portions broken away with the U- shaped slot-s outofalinement indicating that the cards belong in different compartments,and the V-shaped slots in alinement indicatthat the cards belong in thesame card Fig. 10 is a View of one card with the V-shaped slot shown infull lines as used in a card file from 1 to 1,000 and showing in dottedlines 52- positions that the V-shaped slot can be placed in, oneposition for each card file containing 1,000 cards.

Fig. 11 is a View of two cards with their lower portions broken awayshowing how a card can be located, if the V-sha-ped slot of one card isin alinement with the U-shaped slot of another card.

Fig. 12 is a view of the lower portion of a card file with a cardinserted in a reversed position. i

Fig. 13 is a front elevation of afiling cabinet broken away and showsthe card files inserted therein.

Fig. 14 is a sectional view of a track upon which the selecting andraising device is adapted to travel.

Referring to the drawings 1 designates one of a number of cards used inconnection with this invention, each card being numbered in the upperleft-hand and upper right-hand corners. Inserted in the lower part ofeach card is a metal extension 2 which is adapted to be struck by theselecting and raising mechanism, which will be described later. Thesemetal extensions 2 are staggered in ten positions, one metal extension 2bein inserted in each card to represent the unit digit of the number onthe card. 3 is a front wall and 4 is a back wall, and 5 and 6 are sidewalls constituting a rectangular frame. Fastened to the side walls 5 and6 and spaced between the front wall 3 and the back wall 4 area number ofpartition walls a which are for the purpose of separating each tencards, and a top portion a of these partition walls a are numbered to.indicate each ten cards. The lower portion of each of the partitionwalls a extends below the cards and is numbered (1 and is used toprevent the card selecting and raising mechanism from being operatedunless said card selecting and raising mechanism is in the properposition as will be described later. The lower ends of side walls 5 and6 are provided with angle portions 7 and. 8 an upper part of whichserves as a resting portion for cards 1 as shown in Fig. 2. Thisconstitutes a card file and will hereafter be referred to as A.

This card file A is set into a supporting frame B of the selecting andraisin mechanism which will now be describec 9 is a short side wallhaving an angle portion 10;

11 is a high side wall having an angle portion 12, and upon these angleportions 10 and 12 the lower part of the angle portions 7 and 8 of thecard file A are adapted to rest. 13 is an angle portion on the upper endofside wall 11, and its upper surface is graduated into tens as shown inFig.3, corresponding to the numbers on the top portions (a of thepartition walls (a) of the card file A.

As shown in Fig. l on the upper lefthand side of supporting frame B is abearing 14, which is fastened to the side wall 11 and which supports oneend of a rod 16, and the opposite end of rod 16 is supported by abearing 18 which is also fastened to the side wall 11. Below andparallel to rod 16 is another rod 17 which is supported by bearings 15and 19, which are fastened to the side wall 11 of the supporting frameB. These rods 16 and 17 form a track upon which a carriage C is adaptedto travel.

Carriage C consists of two side walls 20 and 21 and a top plate 22, andside walls 20 and 21 have openings 23 and 24 through which rods 16 and17 pass. Carriage C is adapted to be moved along tracks 16 and 17 bymeans of a thumb-piece 25 which is securely fastened to the side of thetop-plate 22 by screws 26 as shown in Fig. 2. Inserted through slots inthe top plate 22 are push-rods 27 to the top of which are fastenednumeral keys 28, having numerals from 0 to 9 inscribed on their uppersurfaces as shown in Fig. 3. Around the push-rods 27 and between thenumeral keys 28 and the top plate 22 are push springs 29 which tend tohold the push rods 27 in an upward position, and below the top plate 22fastened to each of the push rods 27 are stop pins 30 which limit theheight that push springs .29 can raise push rods 27. On the lower endsof push rods 27 loosely connected at 31 are lifting arms 32 which arepivoted toa rod 33 which is securely fastened to the side walls 20 and21 of carriage C. On the front end of the lifting arms 32 arestriking'ends 34 which are adapted toabut against the" metal extensions2 of the cards 1 as in Fig. 2.

On the upper surface of the top plate 22 shown is an indicating hand 35which is securely 780 on the scale 13, and he then presses the.

numeral key 0 and as the numeral key 0 is pressed the push spring 29 iscompressed and push rod 27 is pushed in a downward direction.-therebylowering one end of the lifting arm 32 and raising the oppositeend,thereby causing the striking end 34 of the corresponding lifting arm 32to come in contact with themetal extension 2 of the card bearing theunit digit 0 in this compartment which is card 780.

If it is desired to raise, say, card 792, carriage O is advanced alongscale 13 until the indicating hand 35 points directly to the numeral 790on the scale 13, and he then presses the numeral key 2 which causes thestriking end 34 of the corresponding lifting arm 32 to come in contactwith the metal extension 2 of the card bearing the unit digit 2 in thiscompartment 790, thereby causing card 792 to be raised.

If the operator desires to select and raise, say card 797 which is inthis same compartment 790, he presses the numeral key 7 thereby causingthe striking end 34 of the corresponding lifting arm 32 to come incontact with the metal extension 2 of the card bearing the unit digit 7in this compartment which is card 797.

I will now describe the means for preventing the carriage from beingmoved while a' key is in a depressed position.

As before described, the partition walls (a) have a lower portion (awhich extends below the cards 1. It will be noted in Fig. 3 that thestriking e'nds 34 of the lifting arm 32 are the width of ten cards andit can readily be seen that if a numeral key 28 was depressed that thestriking end 34 of the lifting arm 32 would pass between two of thepartition walls (a) and if the oper ator attempted to move carriage Cwhile in this position that the striking end 34 of the lifting arm 32would prevent carriage C from being moved because the striking end 34 isbetween two of the partition walls (a).

55 long in the same card file.

positioned along the tracks 16 and 17 so that the indicating hand 35 wasnot pointing directly to the numeral on the scale 13, that if a numeralkey 28 was to be pressed the striking end 34 of the lifting arm 32 wouldcome in contact with the lower portion (a of the partition wall (0)thereby preventing the card raising mechanism rom being operated.

I will now describe the method of locatlng 2 a card that has beenmisfiled.

Referring to Fig. 6, on the left-hand side of the card file A areU-shaped slots 37 which are cut in the tops of the cards 1, and theseU-shaped slots 37 govern each ten cards bearing the unit digits from 0to 9 in a compartment containing ten cards This U shaped slot 37 is cutin ten cards in'one position and is then offset in the next ten cards,&c., thereby forming an almost diagonal line across the length of thecard file A. This U-shaped slot 37 is for the purpose of locating a cardfiled in the wrong tens compartment. On the right hand side of the cardfile A is a V-shaped slot 38 which is cut into the tops of cards 1 in aline parallel with the side walls 5 and 6 of card file A. This V- shapedslot 38 governs every thousand cards. As seen in Fig. 10 this V-shapedslot 38 has been dotted in 52 different positions across 1 the top of acard. This indicates that this V-shaped slot 38 can take any of thesepositions across the top of a card, thereby governing 52,000 cards. OneV-shaped slot for each 1,000 cards and 1,000 cards for each card file A,and it can readily be understood that by using different shaped slotsthe num- -ber of cards used in connection with this card filingsystemcan be greatly increased. It will be noted in Fig. 9 that card 38 hasbeen placed behind card 7 and that the U-shaped slots 37 are out ofalignment, indicating that the cards belong in different compartments,but that the V-shaped slots 38 are in alignment indicating that thecards be- It will be noted in Fig. 8 that card 1008 has been placedbehind card 7 and that the U-shaped slots 37 are in alignment,indicating that the cards could be filed in the same compartment,butthat the V-shaped slots 38 are out of alignand that the U-shapedslots 37 are also out of alignment. This indicates that the cards do notbelong in the same compartment or in the same card file, and it canreadily be seen that if a card should be filed in a position similar toeither of these examples that 'the operator would readily find them byglancing across the top of the card file A, because the back card wouldclose up the U-shaped slot 37 and the V-shaped slot 38 of the front cardproviding two of the slots were not in alignment. It will be noted inFig. 11 that a V-shaped slot 38 appears in a U-shaped slot 37 and thereason for this, it will be noted, is that the number on the rear cardis in the 31,000s; therefore the V-shaped slot 38 has taken one of the52 positions as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 10, and it will also benoted that the front card has for its number 547. Therefore, theU-shaped slot 37 has been offset until it is in this position and it canreadily be seen that if a card were filed in a position similar to thisthe operator could readily find said card because the V-shaped slot 38shows up through the U-shaped slot 37 and the other slots are closed upby the cards. It will be noted in Fig. 6 that both the U-shaped slot 37and the V-shaped slot 38 are shown in dotted lines in the center of thecard file A, and it will also be noted that the U-shaped slot 37 hasbeen offset where the V-shaped slot 38 would meet it. This is done sothat there will always be two slots in the top of each card: oneU-shaped slot 37 and the other V-shaped slot 38.

I will now describe a method for preventing a card from being filed inareversed position.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 12, a bar39 is fastened inthe lowerleft-handcorner of the card file A and said bar 39 runs through thelength of the card file A. A corresponding slot 39 is cut in the lowerleft-hand corner of the cards 1 and it can readily be seen that if acard were reversed and filed that it would not go down all the way inthe card file, because the card would strike against the bar 39 andcould readily be seen by the operator because the card Would projectabove the other cards in the card file A.

I will now describe how the selecting and raising device is used inconnection with a cabinet file.

As shown in Fig. 13 the files A are adapted to be inserted into acabinet D. Rigidly secured to the front of cabinet D by screws 40 aretracks 41 and 42, andupon these tracks 41 and 42 the selecting andraising device is adapted to travel, as will now be described. Referringto the Figs. 1 and 2 it will be noted that supporting frame B has legs43 and that the two back legs 43 have cut into them slots 44. Rigidlysecured to the upper rear end of side wall 11 is an upright iece 45 thathas a slot 46 cut into it, and t ese slots 44 and 46 are adapted to bemounted on tracks 41 and 42.

If the operator desires to select a card from a file in the cabinet D,he mounts the selecting and raising device through slots 44 and 46 ontracks 41 and 42 and 'moves the selecting and raising device along thetracks 41 and 42 until the selecting and raising device is opposite thecard file A wanted and he then takes hold of a handle 47 which isfastened to the front wall 3 of the card file A. and pulls the file outon to the supporting frame B until the front wall 3 of the card file Acomes in contact with a stop pin 48 which is fastened to the angleportion 12 of: the supporting frame B as shown in Fig. 1 and in thisposition the card selecting and raising mechanism is adapted to beoperated. If the operator desires to return a file to the cabinet D, hepushes the file backward until it no longer engages the supporting frameB and he may then move the selecting and raising device along tracks 41and 42 and position it in front of another card file A in order toselect a card from a different file, if he so desires.

What I claim is:

1. In a card-selecting device, the combination of a cabinet, a pluralityof card-receptacles therein, card units having selective characteristicslocated in said receptacles, a track mounted on said cabinet, acard-selecting device adapted to travel along said track and to bepositioned in front of any one of said receptacles, and to receive andsupport the receptacle when the latter is drawn from the cabinet, saiddevice including means for selecting and raising a unit from any one ofthe receptacles.

2. In a card-selecting device, the combination of a cabinet, a pluralityof card-receptacles arranged in horizontal rows therein, card unitshaving selective characteristics located in said receptacles, a trackfor each receptacle row, a card-selecting device adapted to travel alongany one of said tracks, to be positioned in front of any one of thereceptacles of any row, and to receive and to support the receptaclewhen the latter is drawn from the cabinet, said device including meansfor selecting and raising a unit from any one of the receptacles.

3. In a card-selecting device, the combination of a cabinet, a pluralityof card-receptacles therein, card units having selective characteristicsin said receptacles, a track mounted on said cabinet, a card-selectingde vice adapted to travel along said track and to be positioned in frontof any one of a plurality of said card-receptacles, and to receive.

and support the receptacle when the latter is drawn from the cabinet,said device including means for! selecting and raising a unit from anmeans are ad the receptacle.

4. In a card selecting and raising device a receptacle adapted tocontain a plurality of card groups, a scale bearing a plurality-ofcharacters in register with respective card groups, a carriage movablealong said scale bearing lifting members for operating on the cards ofany card group, supporting means for said carriage, an indicating handborne by said carriage adapted to indicate on said scale the specificcard group on which the lifting members of said carriage are to operate,and means for preventing said lifting members being operated when thecarriage 1s not properly positioned relative to a selected card group.

5. In a card selecting and raising device, the combination of aselecting and raising mechanism, a receptacle adapted to contain cardsarranged in group formation, each card having a metallic extension, saidmechan sm adapted to travel longitudinally of said receptacle on theoutside thereof so that 1t can operate on an one of said cards, andguiding means for t e travel of said mechanism.

6. A card selecting and raising apparatus, comprising a receptacleadapted to contain a plurality of vertically held cards arranged one ofthe receptacles, which pted to travel engthwise of in ten card groups, acarriage adapted to travel the length of the receptacle, a select- 7 ingmechanism borne by said carriage, guid ing means for said carriage, saidmechanism having a series of card lifting members and there being alifting member for each card of a card group, and means for preventingsaid lifting members being operated when the carriageis out of registerwith an elected card group.

7.In a card indexing system, a receptacle containing a plurality ofvertically held cards arranged in groups, each card of each card grouphaving an alining notch on its upper edge forming a groove through eachcard group, the grooves of successive card groups being offset from oneanother but in.

sighting alinement with each other, thereby forming a continuous groovethrough all of the card groups.

8. In a card indexing system, a receptacle containing a plurality ofapproximately vertically held cards arranged in groups, each card ofeach cardgroup having an alining identifying ndtch on its upper edgeforming a groove through each card group, the grooves of successive'cardgroups being offset from one another but in sighting alinement with eachother, thereby forming a continuous groove through all of the cardgroups, each card in the receptacle bearing a second alining notch onits upper edge, said second notches being equally positioned on all thecards thereby forming a second continuous sighting groove through all ofthe cards of the receptacle.

9. In a card selecting and raising device, 5 the combination of areceptacle divided into compartments, each compartment adapted tocontain a group of cards, a carriage adapted to be moved from onecompartment to another, means for guiding said carriage, selectingmembers mounted on the carriage to operate on the cards in any of thecompartments, and means to prevent said carriage being moved from thecompartment in which it is operating while any selecting member is beingoperated.

FERDINAND J. TILLMAN.

